Raccoon City is behind them but it seems that there is no rest for Chris and Jill. The heroic duo are now knee deep in an investigation concerning another deadly virus. Will this high definition port of Resident Evil: Revelations prove as popular as the Nintendo 3DS version?

Jill and a new character Parker are sent off to search for the missing Chris and his also new partner Jessica. The location is an abandoned luxury cruise liner that has probably seen better days. The Queen Zenobia has its fair share of trouble given the fact that the whole crew is infected.

Navigating the cruise liner is no easy feat. The corridors are narrow and often look too similar. The problem is down to a map that isn’t exactly simple to understand. This is because the map is displayed so that sometimes it is difficult to see certain paths.

This means that a player may end up on a wrong floor because of not being able to see which floor the path for the next objective is on. It’s as if the game intends for the player to get lost on purpose. This is only an issue as a new objective is usually found right on the other side of the cruise liner.

In fact, a lot of the time spent playing Revelations consists of running around these now dark corridors. There is a sense of dread when exploring the Queen Zenobia. Specially since the new monsters can jump out of the various openings, such as the ventilation system.

The new enemies consist of mutations caused by different specimens coming into contact with the new T-Abyss virus. Some of these mutations are quite gruesome. However, they don’t exactly come off as frightening as those zombies that made the series so popular. The Oooze (what players will mostly fight) seem more like grotesque versions of humans that had their skin melt and other body parts split into parts.

There is a surprising amount of enemies to fight, which makes sense since the whole crew has been infected. So it’s not uncommon for players to use up all ammo during confrontations with groups of them. Surprisingly, enemies don’t drop any ammo.

Instead, players can use a new gadget called Genesis that has various uses. One of them is scanning for items, such as ammo. It is also used to scan enemies and a herb is given when a counter reaches 100%. It’s not exactly ground breaking but it ensures that less experienced players can play without getting stuck a lot of times.

Some of the enemies are resilient and will require some effort to defeat them. Fortunately characters can dodge their attacks if the player presses specific buttons with right timing. Fighting the bosses is probably one of the best moments in Revelations. They are usually massive beasts that will make the player use every resource available.

The levels are not just based within the Zenobia. There are other locations used throughout the course of the story. Such locations include a snow covered mountain area and a city overrun by monsters. Sadly, it’s not as terrifying as the cruiser liner seeing as these locations are in broad daylight. Visually, it looks similar to Resident Evil 5. It certainly feels like a true high definition port.

Oddly enough, it suffers from some strange loading times when going between areas. This is most prominent whilst exploring the Zenobia. It’s as if the game is struggling to load the next area. Not a major issue but one that is reminiscent of the door animations from the original Resident Evil, that ironically enough were there to hide the loading times.

Revelations isn’t exactly challenging. There are only a few puzzles to complete. Otherwise it is pretty much straight forward running around shooting enemies and getting to objectives. The few puzzles available feels like simplified versions. Perhaps it’s the fact that these puzzles are simple due to the lack of touch screen controls. (Nintendo 3DS version).

Fortunately the controls are much better on the console version. The extra buttons on the pad and so on make for a better experience.

There are plenty of weapon upgrades ti find in various places. It’s a nice idea and easier than having to save up money to buy them. It’s only possible to equip up to three weapons and each can hold a certain number of skills.

The story keeps going back and forth in order to build up to any developments in the plot. Sadly, it’s often too easy to guess some of the plot twists. Characters sometimes behave erratically and some of their actions later on in the story don’t even make that much sense.

The story episodes are not exactly long either. Some literally consist of a few minutes of play time, followed by a cut scene that last a few minutes.

It feels like the problem is that there are too many episodes. It certainly makes sense though, since this is a port of a hand-held title. Playing this on the move meant that it’s necessary to save often, since there is the danger of the battery power running out. However, it feels like it interrupts the flow of the story when playing on a console. Specially when playing for a long time.

It’s no surprise that the story felt short and was easily completed within a few hours. It’s certainly a good amount of time for a hand-held, but it doesn’t feel enough for a console release..

Raid mode feel like a nice evolution from Mercenaries. Doesn’t feel as exhilarating as it’s more about getting to the end rather than survival though. There are lots of levels to get trough and extras to collect. Characters and other items to unlock. Being able to play with others online helps to make it more enjoyable. It’s a nice extra that compliments the story mode.

This may have been a fantastic addition to the series as a hand-held title. However, it truly feels like there is something lacking. Just like thinking about those monsters that lurk in the dark. It’s difficult not to have it in the back of the mind whilst playing through. It feels like Capcom is attempting to bring back the memories of the original, but never quite manages to get there.

Still Resident Evil: Revelations is an enjoyable video-game, even if it doesn’t last for long, and it’s definitely worth the admission price for those who have not yet experienced it.